


Not All Sleeping Beauties Need a Kiss

by TimeLadyoftheSith



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alien Plant, Dreaming, Pollen, thorns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 07:49:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9063037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimeLadyoftheSith/pseuds/TimeLadyoftheSith
Summary: The Doctor stops on a rift behind an old farm house to charge the TARDIS, when he spots a woman in the last moments of her life. Will the Doctor be able to waken her in time, or will her dreams consume her.





	1. Brown Eyes

I stepped out of my car into the humid air of spring in Florida. The orange sign of the home improvement store loomed above me, reflecting the blazing sunlight. I squinted my eyes, as I strode across the parking lot. I patted my pockets looking for my list of needed items for the fixer upper house I had so recently purchased. 

The doors to the store slid open, and the morning sunlight glared off the glass, blinding me temporarily. I ran face to chest into a tall, lean man. His strong but slender fingers caught me and steadied my balance. "Sorry." I frantically apologized. "The glare..." I was cut off by the man's solemn voice and slightly off British accent. 

"What's your name?" 

"Miranda." I replied looking up. His worried brown eyes were burning into mine. 

"Well, Miranda." He said squeezing tightly onto my forearms. His hands were strangely cool against my skin. "You need to wake up." 

I gasped in shock and jerked back from him, stumbling into a potted plant near the door. My gaze split from his for just a second, before I looked back. He was gone. 

A shiver ran down my body as I grabbed the nearest cart. My eyes scanned the aisles as I walked, but the brown eyed man was nowhere to be seen. Soon the panicked feeling in the back of my mind faded away, and I began to look for my needed items. Paint for the bedroom was in my cart in no time flat. Next were a new shower head and a shelf for the bathroom. 

One thing I couldn't shake was how my eyes never quite adjusted from the light outside to the lighting indoors. The labels and prices on the shelves were almost impossible to read, as was my list. Yet, somehow, I managed to get everything I needed. It fit perfectly into my cart. I was passing by the doors to the garden area, heading for a new post for the mailbox, when an intoxicating aroma washed over me. 

I headed out into the maze of bushes and flowers, trying to find the source of the euphoric smell. There it was, a pot of flowering vines, tangling its way around a small stake. The flowers were a brilliant white with flecks of red and gold sprinkled across the petals. I reached my hand out slowly, to touch the satin petals. One tendril inched forward, reaching for my outstretched finger.

My hand was halted by cool fingers wrapping firmly but gently around my wrist. My gaze found a blue pinstriped suit cuff poking through the cuff of a brown trenchcoat. The coat was draped over a lean form, and I followed that form up to those same intensely worried eyes. "Miranda, please, you have to wake up!" 

"Who are you?" I asked. In my mind the words were demanding, but they came out in barely more than a choked whisper. His grip was on my wrist, so why did I feel his fingers on my temples. 

"Wake up!" He shouted. His voice didn't hurt my ears. It pierced my mind. I screamed in shock and yanked my hand out of his grasp. Then I slipped and fell. All was black.


	2. Walking in Dreams

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and pulled the door closed behind him. After their last entanglement on Corimak V, she needed to rest and charge, and so did he. This small rift in the middle of nowhere Florida was just the refreshment his old girl needed. 

The sprawling orange grove around him was cool and damp as he made his way through the trees. "Hello." He grinned at squirrel who stopped for a moment in his path. It flicked its tail before dashing away. A warm breeze ruffled from the east, stirring the Doctor's hair, and a sickly sweet scent made his stomach churn. "Well now. That shouldn't be here." He murmured to himself, pulling out his sonic. It buzzed out the confirmation he needed: spina somniatis. 

The Doctor ran forward, his feet finding a slightly overgrown path, and burst into a field where the smell was permeating everything around him. Up ahead was a small farm house, and a snarling vine bent the fence and was snaking its way up walls of the house. The Doctor hissed out a swear in Gallifreyan, and sprinted around the house to the clear front door. He whipped out the sonic again, scanning for signs of life inside. He picked up one human, a female, with fading lifesigns, inside. 

Without hesitation the Doctor burst through the doors, into the messy living room. Home paint cans, a ladder, and other basic home improvement items were scattered about. He moved slowly into home, taking care to avoid the thorny, flowering vines that were creeping along the walls. He stepped into the kitchen, where a woman lay on the floor. Her chest and legs were wrapped in vines, small trickles of blood moved down her skin, where the thorns had cut into her. 

He aimed his sonic at the vines and hit them with a spurt of high frequency noise. The vines tightened their grip, and a howling hiss came from the garden beyond the window. "No!" The Doctor strangled a cry, as he grabbed a large knife off the nearby counter and began to cut her free. The vines retracted from around her, and the howl became a high pitched scream. The Doctor scooped her up in his arms, and with all his strength, he sprinted out of the house. 

He set the woman down on the gravel pathway and shook her fiercely. Her messy chocolate colored hair trembled gravely as he did. Her breathing was shallower now, and growing slower. She had to wake up, or the vine's poison would overload her system and cause her lungs and heart to stop functioning. The only way to halt the poison was to decrease her melatonin levels. 

"Wake up." The Doctor pleaded, shaking her intently. "Wake up!" Her head lolled to the side. Warring with himself, the Doctor knew there was only one way to reach her. His fingers trembling, he placed his hands on either side of her face, and then he gently reached into her dreams. 

He was standing just inside a store, watching her make her way across a parkinglot. Her messy chocolate curls were tied up in a bun. Her skin was paler than what he had seen before him, and the minor flaws of her appearance that he had noticed were more pronounced. The Doctor intentionally placed himself in her path as she hurried inside. When she stumbled, he righted her, and locked onto her piercing green eyes. 

"What's your name?" He asked her.

"Miranda." She had replied, in a nervous voice. 

"Well, Miranda, you have to wake up." Then the world around him tipped and turned as she jerked away. Everything was dark, images flitting past. Some were memories, and others were fleeting thoughts. Then the dream world took shape again, and he found himself watching her approach the deadly plant.

The Doctor rushed forward and grabbed onto her wrist. "Miranda, please, you have to wake up!" 

"Who are you?" Miranda asked. 

"Wake up!" He shouted, out loud and into her mind. "Wake up or you'll die!" Then the dream turned black again. The Doctor jerked himself free of her mind, to clear his own, before diving back into her thoughts.


	3. Awakening

I jerked awake, my head pounding as if someone had smacked me with a pan. I looked around the dim room, and groaned in annoyance with myself for falling asleep on the couch again. My whole body was sore, probably from working around the house all day, and I heaved a sigh as I pushed my small black cat off my lap. The pounding in my head intensified, and I realized someone was at the door. 

"Who is it?!" I called, heading to the peephole to look out. I gasped in shock and fear. It was the brown eyed man again. "Why are you following me?!" I screamed at him. Again, only in my head was my voice loud. It cracked out of my throat in a gargled whisper. 

"Miranda." The man pleaded. "Open the Door and let me in! You are going to die if you don't!" 

"I'm calling the cops!" I tried to yell back, as I looked down at my cellphone that my hand had already retrieved. 

"Miranda." The Man's voice was calm now. "What's your cat's name?" 

"Nyx." I choked out. 

"How long have you had her?" That voice was deadly serious. 

"Since I was five." I replied. 

"Twenty three years is an awfully long time for a cat to live." His voice was so quiet I barely heard it, yet every word echoed clearly in my mind. 

A memory hit me, fuzzy and jagged, from the eyes of a child. A black cat, limp on the side of the road, a car speeding off. My cat dying, but if she was dead, how could she be here? 

I looked into the living room again. Nyx sat staring at me, then slowly she faded into nothing. 

He banged on the door again. "Miranda! You're dreaming, and if you don't wake up, you will die!" 

I turned to face the door, and strangled a gasp as the room began to dim. I fumbled sluggishly with the locks and chain on the door, then slowly pulled it open. The man was standing there, his eyes wild and light seemed to sparkle from the ends of his hair. 

He grabbed my hands and stepped inside the door. "Miranda, please, you have to wake up." 

"Who are you?" I asked, but the words didn't leave my mouth. They reverberated, as thoughts, through my head, down my arms, and into his fingers. 

"I'm the Doctor." He rushed the words as his fingers tightened on my hands, yet again their coolness instead was felt against my temples. "This is a dream. You're laying in your yard, dying from poison. If you don't wake up soon, you'll die in my arms." 

"This can't be a dream." I mouthed soundless words again, yet he understood everything I said. 

"Think of a place, any place, and you'll see." The strange Doctor ordered. 

I thought of the store I had visited that morning, and suddenly we were standing in the ladder aisle. "It is a dream..." I gasped as I dug my nails into his hands. "How do I wake up?" 

"Follow me." The Doctor said, tugging me towards a fire exit. "I'll lead you home." 

I stumbled after him, clinging tightly to his hands, and followed him through the exit. 

Gravel was digging painfully into my back, and sunlight burned my eyes. I jerked up, cool hands falling away from my face, and turned over on one arm to empty the contents of my stomach onto the ground. 

Cool hands brushed my tangled hair back from my face, as I gave a few final dry heaves. 

"Drink this." The strange lilting accent whispered and thrust a small vial of pink liquid into my hand. "I'll be right back" I caught a glimpse of a brown pinstriped pantsuit and white converse as I lifted the vial to my lips. 

A strange whirring noise reverberated from the back yard and a glistening dome settled down over my house. Then the Doctor came jogging from around the left side. Now that my vision was clearing, I could get a good look at him. He was handsome, in a professor or librarian sort of way. His smile was bright, and made his eyes crinkle attractively. 

He settled down onto the ground next to me. "Hello again." 

"Hello." I replied. "So, care to explain why you were in my dream and why I'm bleeding?" 

"Weeeeeell" He drug the word out. "Long story short, alien plant invaded your back yard and tried to kill you. I stumbled upon it while letting my spaceship thing recharge, and I found you." He scratched the back of his neck. "Then I sorta telepathically invaded your dreams in an effort to save you, gave you some 101st century medicine to counteract the poison of the thorns, then telephoned the unified intelligence task force, because the technology needed to destroy the plant isn't something I carry around. They'll be here in about thirty seconds." 

I blinked at the Doctor. "Spaceship, are you an alien?" 

Before he could reply people began to pop into existence in my yard. A small aircraft of some sort lowered itself and a man and woman exited the craft. "Martha and Mickey!" The Doctor exclaimed hopping to his feet. He hugged them both briefly before pointing them towards me. I lost sight of him as Martha began checking me over and explaining that they would be moving me to a medical facility for a full detox, and they would assist me in finding a new home. 

"Where did the Doctor go?" I asked, as Mickey pulled me to my feet and helped me over to the craft. "I never thanked him."

"He isn't one for thanks." Mickey replied. "He knows."


End file.
